


The Animal With the Brain

by robinasnyder



Series: Sharing Toothpaste [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinasnyder/pseuds/robinasnyder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim tries to cuddle with Molly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Animal With the Brain

Jim slipped his hand once through Molly's hair, just for the novelty of the feeling. It wasn't interesting enough and he stopped after that. She lay nestled against his chest, awake but drowsy. It was his gift to her for making him an amazing fish dinner that she be allowed to have sex with him in his bed. Normally his whole room was off limits to her, but he had allowed her access. Sometimes the novelty of the differentness was important to him.

"Why didn't make fish for me the first time?"

"I didn't think you'd like something so common."

"When it's amazing, I'll like anything." He noted how Molly grinned so broadly. "Why didn't you make that and not the lasagna?"

"The Colonel suggested it would be better if I succeeded at something I'd been working on," she said.

"He does have a name."

"You wouldn't like it if I called him by his name."

"You call me by my name."

"You would make me stop if you wanted me to," she said, starting to shift away from him. He tightened his grip.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed."

"You're in bed."

"The Colonel's bed."

Jim felt a shot of annoyance and anger. "You prefer his bed to mine?" he asked blankly.

Molly stopped and looked up at him. She looked nervous, that annoyed him. Was she going to attempt to lie to him? She wasn't very good at it.

"Do you want me here?" She sounded so… hopeful? Jim hadn't expected that. He reminded himself that to the normal people that how they felt was important to them.

"You're not going to him tonight."

"Are you jealous?"

"Should I be?"

Molly smiled, and leaned up, lightly kissing his cheek in a manner that was far too sweet than a person like him to receive. People would think to kiss him like that when he played a part like Jim from IT, but no one thought to kiss him like that as Moriarty. Molly always did, though. "I am yours," she told him. "Just you. You'd never have me if it were any other way."

"Stay here," he said, leaning down and kissing her temple. He'd allowed her to sleep next to him when they'd been dating before she found out who he was. Jim from IT was a cuddler. Jim Moriarty hated having people, or anything really, pressed against him as he slept.

"Thank you," she said and snuggled into his chest. He had his arm around her. It was odd feeling his skin pressed against hers. She did much more to take care of her skin than she used to. That was smart of her. He was always very specific about what he wanted. Cuddling normally wasn't one of those things. It was odd to have another body pressed against his.

"Do you like sleeping next to him?"

"It's warmer than sleeping alone," she said.

"And the real answer," Jim said.

"I'm normally asleep when he comes in," she said. "But it's not a bad way to wake up in the morning. It's um…" She trailed off completely.

"It's um what?"

"It's silly."

"Is it?" he asked, feeling annoyed again.

"What I was about to say, it's silly," she told him.

"Tell me anyway."

"Jim."

"Tell me anyway."

She sighed. She knew an order when she heard one. "It makes me feel like you're taking care of me."

"To leave you in another man's bed."

"In your bodyguard's protection. It's like… I mean, I know it's just my imagination, but I like to think this way," she said hurriedly, apologizing beforehand for what she was about to say. "If you didn't care about me at all you'd take me someplace else or you'd send me home no matter how tired I was. I know you hate touching people," she commented, smiling up at him from where her head was pressed into the crook of his neck. "So you give me the next best thing. He'll never hurt me or touch me unless on your orders. I'm safe with him, but only because of you."

"You have a very active imagination."

"I know," she said, cuddling into Jim's body a bit more. It was like she wanted to soak up as much time pressed against him as she could.

Sometimes it surprised him that she wasn't as stupid as she seemed. She was stupid, everyone was. But she wasn't and idiot, not like the normal people. She observed things she didn't even realize were true. She was his, and he wasn't going to let her leave when she was too exhausted to make it home safely. He was the only one allowed to touch her.

Sebastian Moran was just an extension of himself. It made sense that Moran was interested in her. What other women did Moran ever deal with consistently? Moriarty's sniper tried to hide it, but he wasn't a very good liar, not to Jim anyway. Jim had known that Moran was interested in her since the cooking lessons.

The question now was how long would Moran hold out? Moran was an animal with a brain. He wasn't an idiot. He could figure out some very brilliant mathematics, but he never understood that's what he was doing. It was all mathematics when it came to shooting something, at least at Sebastian's proficiency. The sniper needed to figure out the angle, movement of target, resistance, air movement. It was incredibly complex on paper, even more so in practice. Moran could do it without putting the thoughts into words in his mind, but he couldn't translate his work into what it really was: academia put into practice. He was an animal with a brain.

Animals worked more on instinct than thought. What would win out? Fear and loyalty, or lust. Moriarty was curious. He was curious too about what his own choice would be. Molly Hooper belonged to him, but so did Sebastian Moran. Jim owned them both.

Molly was shockingly loyal for someone who still harbored a crush for Jim's archenemy. She didn't see Sebastian as anything but a shield that produced body heat. Sebastian saw her as a woman. If he touched her the wrong way, then he would be betraying his employer. Yet Sebastian was more necessary than Molly to Jim's work. Molly was a few evening's distraction. Sebastian worked for Jim.

So who would he chose? The woman who was exceedingly loyal, but useless? Or the man who was exceedingly useful, but unloyal? Jim decided to cross that bridge when it came time. He had more important things to worry about for the moment.

Molly had drifted off to sleep, but Jim felt like he was suffocating from having her skin pressed against his own like it was. He'd invited her, stupidly and humanly jealous for a moment. Sentiment cost him, it always did. He didn't make such mistakes very often, this was a minor one, but he was going to be cranky and grumpy in the morning from lack of sleep. Sentiment would cost someone else too.

He lay there for a while, tugged into his own thoughts, imaging math problems to try and distract himself to sleep (his version of counting sheep). It did not work, though. He put off body heat like almost no one else when he slept, so having another little furnace pressed up against him would be impossible. He gave up waiting for sleep around the time Molly reached her REM sleep.

He climbed out or bed and headed to the kitchen, considering what could help him sleep. He didn't plan to be as pathetic as to sleep on the sofa. Molly cuddled up in her sleep, so even if he were to get himself a different blanket and lay on top of the comforter she would still end up pressed against him and make him uncomfortable.

"Boss, what are you doing up?" Sebastian asked when Jim flicked on the light in the kitchen.

Jim glanced over at him. Sebastian was an insomniac when he wasn't worked so hard that not sleeping became dangerous. Jim worked him hard for a reason. Sebastian still being awake meant that he was worried. The fact that Sebastian had pulled out the MASH dvd meant that the sniper didn't think he'd be sleeping any time soon. He slept perfectly when Molly was pressed against him.

"You're awake," Jim said.

"I can't seem to get comfortable," Sebastian said. It was a lame lie, but Moran clearly knew that Jim would know what was wrong if he said he couldn't sleep.

"Take my bed," Jim said. It was spur of the moment, but then Jim was very good at improvisation.

Jim noted the way Sebastian looked at him. It was hopeful, hunted, afraid both of Jim and of Molly, and desperate, very desperate. "You don't normally let me in your room," Sebastian said. That was true. Moriarty never would normally let Sebastian in his bed for any reason.

"You sleep better with Molly in your bed," Jim stated.

There was that hunted look again. "Boss, I have never laid a hand on her, not like that, I swear to you. I never will."

"But you want to."

"Wanting isn't the same as doing, Boss, you know that." He sounded so desperate.

"Go to bed," Moriarty said, turning back to the refrigerator.

"Boss." Moran was hesitating.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Jim said.

"Good night, Boss," Sebastian said. He sounded resigned, a man looking toward an execution in the morning who has his last conjugal visit that night. Jim was curious, what would his employee do about that.


End file.
